If you have a young child and even if you don’t, there are a couple of model railroad displays in Washington, D.C. worth checking out this Christmas season.

Union Station traditionally has a display which was changed last year: D.C.’s Union Station changes holiday model train displays.

@doubleuefwhy @unionstation_dc Train is up and running in the Main Hall. Norwegian Christmas Tree is in the West Porch.

— Union Station DC (@USRCDC) December 18, 2012

After that, head on down to the U.S. Botanic Garden which has an outstanding model railroad.

The famous Garden Railway in the East Gallery will feature model trains running through an imaginative Enchanted Forest, with fanciful fairy dwellings along the rail line, all created with plant materials.

Be sure to save the Botanic Garden for last, it is the best layout I’ve ever seen. Here is what I wrote about it last year: Looking back at the US Botanic Garden holiday model trains